Pompano Considers City Hall Proposals

April 21, 1985|By Jeffrey Moore, Staff Writer

POMPANO BEACH — The city is moving ahead with plans to reconstruct City Hall, either by renovating the complex on Atlantic Boulevard or by demolishing it and building a new complex in a nature preserve near Pompano Air Park.

As the plans were presented to the City Commission Tuesday, either plan would cost about $1.5 million.

If old City Hall is demolished, city planners suggest that a high-rise office park be developed in its place, at Southwest First Avenue and Atlantic Boulevard. A new City Hall would then be built on Northeast Fifth Avenue as it winds through a nature preserve bordering the western edge of Pompano Air Park.

Work would start this summer if renovation is the choice. More time would be required if the commission chooses to rebuild near the municipal airport.

Commissioner Emma Lou Olson, a strong proponent of revitalizing the downtown district north of City Hall, convinced the commission that relocation plans should await the results of a study to determine what impact the demolition of the old government complex would have on surrounding businesses.

``We just can`t abandon the area,`` Olson said.

The modernization proposals are being offered just as final work is being completed on the city`s $8 million Public Safety Complex on Southwest Third Avenue, a few blocks south of old City Hall. The complex will house police, fire and data-processing functions of city administration.

With so much office space about to be vacated, the city retained Pompano Beach architect Thom DiGiorgio to study ways to utilize it and, in the process, lend greater efficiency to city administration.

On Tuesday, DiGiorgio offered the commission his proposals to renovate City Hall at an estimated cost of $1.5 million. DiGiorgio suggested two buildings in the old complex be demolished, remaining buildings be given face lifts, and the old police administration building be expanded to extend it north toward the City Commission chambers along Pompano Canal.

Service-oriented departments, such as building and planning, would be moved into the old, two-story police station, DiGiorgio said.

Following DiGiorgio`s presentation, City Manager James Soderlund unveiled alternative plans to relocate the government center.

While a new 40,000-square-foot building would cost about $3 million, Soderlund said it could be cost-effective because sale of the old City Hall property would yield about $1.5 million that could be applied to the new complex. As a result, Soderlund said, the balance of $1.5 million the city would invest is roughly equal to the cost of renovating City Hall.

Of three six-acre sites Soderlund suggested for a new building, two adjoin the Pompano Beach Golf Course and one adjoins the airport. The commissioners favored the latter proposal. It would put City Hall amid a forest that comprises the air park preservation area just west of Pompano Air Park on Northeast Fifth Avenue. The Sand and Spurs Stables would be immediately south.

DiGiorgio said an economic impact study focusing on the potential relocation should be prepared for commission scrutiny in about three weeks.